Here's one way of getting out of a contract

I do not wish to be seen to be labouring a point but I think the following story is interesting because it covers not just a problem but a solution. After my various writings about the failings of Cardpoint in terms of its equipment and its customer services, I was contacted by Alastair Newton. He's left retailing now but he refuses to lie down. He had two years remaining on his contract with Cardpoint when he sold his store in Matlock, Derbyshire. The incoming retailer was not prepared to take on a new seven-year contract on what was by then a three-year old machine. "This left me facing a £4,600 termination fee - later generously reduced to £1,500 on a £3,000 machine I had actually bought from them with a five-year service agreement," says Alastair."I eventually solved the problem by advertising the machine free (it had just recovered its direct costs), removing it from the shop myself and reinstalling it in another retailer's premises as per the original fitting. Cardpoint would have charged £1,000 for this service. The company then transferred the agreement for the remaining period and the retailer fortunately agreed to accept all liability for the future of the machine, something Cardpoint still wanted me to retain."Despite his semi-successful outcome, Alastair says he could not recommend the company. "In the three years I had it the machine would not work with around half the debit cards offered to it, refusing almost all NatWest cards; Natwest being one of the main Matlock banks. Requests to rectify the problem were ignored and the software upgrade - carried out a year after the engineer requested it - blew up the main board."There's plenty more where that came from. But let's just say that, hopefully, in the hands of Cardpoint's new owner, Payzone, the situation for all concerned will improve.

Topics

Related articles

I got some feedback from my last column on the subject of credit card authorisation through terminals and fraud prevention. It was Ukash/Visa last time through PayPoint. This time it is Elavon credit cards through Payzone.

A few retailers have been in touch to ask how they could improve their chances with Camelot now that it’s been announced that there may be some new terminals on offer come the end of the year. I asked Camelot for some advice and got the usual…